


You’re (not) a Space Filler

by pameytilla



Series: 2017 Winter Holidays! [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, Set in Season 1/2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 19:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12871788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pameytilla/pseuds/pameytilla
Summary: It’s not that he hates Keith. He doesn’t, not really. But the other paladins think he does, Keith thinks he does. And Lance doesn’t want that, doesn’t want Keith to think that he hates him.It’s just hard, because Keith is good at everything Lance wishes he was good at. And that’s so hard to accept, because everything Lance has to offer the team; Keith can do better.  And yeah, maybe he does want to beat Keith at something, anything, but that still doesn’t mean that he hates him.Lance isn’t smart like Hunk or Pidge, he’s not strong like Shiro, he’s not as good a pilot as Keith. Sometimes it feels like he’s just there as a space filler.





	You’re (not) a Space Filler

**Author's Note:**

> The first in the series! Hopefully there’ll be one a day until the 25th, but who knows?  
> But basically the vast majority won’t be to do with the holidays, unless specified. 
> 
> I don’t own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I love it. 
> 
> Word prompt: relate

It’s not that he hates Keith. He doesn’t, not really. But the other paladins think he does, Keith thinks he does. And Lance doesn’t want that, doesn’t want Keith to think that he hates him.  
It’s just hard, because Keith is good at everything Lance wishes he was good at. And that’s so hard to accept, because everything Lance has to offer the team; Keith can do better. And yeah, maybe he does want to beat Keith at something, anything, but that still doesn’t mean that he hates him.  
Lance isn’t smart like Hunk or Pidge, he’s not strong like Shiro, he’s not as good a pilot as Keith. Sometimes it feels like he’s just there as a space filler. 

Blue gives him gentle nudges, ideas of encouragement, words of comfort. He sneaks out of his room at night to see her, he can’t sleep unless he does. She tells him stories of her previous paladins, and what they were like. Similar to each other, but always unique in one way or another. She loved them all lots, she tells him. So much. Sometimes, on bad nights she tells him that he’s not a space filler, that she loves him, that he’s needed. He loves her too, but a little voice inside of him says that she’s just saying that because she has too. Because if she didn’t then they wouldn’t have a blue paladin, and they wouldn’t be able to form voltron.  
But he believes her when she says that she loves him, and that’s good enough for him. 

One night, when he’s sneaking off to go and see Blue, he runs into Keith. Literally.  
They collide in the hallway, Lance catching himself before he fell on his face. Keith momentarily steadies himself, before glaring at him. “Watch it,” he glowers.  
“You watch it.” Lance snaps back, crossing his arms defensively.  
“Why do you always do this?” Keith says, suddenly startling Lance. “Why do you not like me so much? We’re supposed to be teammates, we’re supposed to get on with each other. But we don’t. So, why.” Keith sounds almost upset now, vulnerable even. “Why do you hate me?”  
“I don’t hate you,” Lance whispers and when Keith looks up at him, he repeats it louder. “I don’t hate you.”  
Keith quirks his brow at him, not in a mocking way, just like he’s confused. “That’s what Hunk said. He said you didn’t hate me, you just saw me as your competitor or something.”  
Hunk knew him so well. “Yeah, something like that.” He smiled weakly at Keith. “I guess you’re just a hard person for me to relate to.”  
“...that makes... sense.” Keith said. “We are opposites after all. Red verses Blue, and all.”


End file.
